How to English is a blog series in which I share tips and tricks I have learned in my 25 years of teaching ESL. The goal is to clearly and concisely present the “must know” information for the given topic. I would love for other teachers and students to comment and share their knowledge, as well.
TARGET: Mastery of past simple is confirmed when the student can:
Consistently create past forms of regular and irregular verbs
Form affirmative and negative statements
Form ‘yes/no’ and information questions
Use time markers associated with past simple
Demonstrates understanding of meaning and use for actions and states which both started and finished in the past.
FORM:
Regular verbs
Students must understand that regular verbs have ‘ed’ added to the end of the verb
If the verb eds in a consonant + Y, delete Y and add IED
Ex: Cry ⇒ Cried
If the verb ends in a vowel + Y, just add ED as usual.
Ex: Play ⇒ Played
If the verb ends in CONSONANT + Y, there is a spelling change (IES).
Irregular verbs
Students must understand that some past simple verbs do not use ED. They have a completely different form. Irregular verbs must be memorized.
Ex: Sing⇒ Sung; Eat ⇒ Ate
The 3 most important irregular verbs are BE, DO, and HAVE.
Ex: Be ⇒ Was (I, He, She, It) and Were (You, We, They).
Tip: Give students a list of irregular verbs early and drill them often. You can find one on my website, chrisinenglish.com.
Statement structure.
In an affirmative statement, basic word order is SUBJECT-VERB-OBJECT
EX.The boy watched the movie.
In a negative statement, basic word order is SUBJECT-HELPING VERB-NEGATIVE WORD-VERB-OBJECT
EX. The boy did not watch the movie.
Notice that the HELPING VERB is past simple, not the MAIN VERB.
In a negative statement, if the VERB is a form of BE, don’t use an OBJECT. But you can use an adjective.
EX. The girl was not hungry.
Question structure.
In a yes/no question, basic word order is HELPING VERB-SUBJECT-VERB-OBJECT
EX. Did the boy watch the movie?
Notice that the HELPING VERB is past simple in a question, not the MAIN VERB.
In a yes/no answer, basic word order is SUBJECT-HELPING VERB.
EX. Yes, he did.
Do not use a main verb in a yes/no answer.
In an information question, basic word order is INFORMATION WORD-HELPING VERB-SUBJECT-VERB-OBJECT.
What movie did he watch?
Tip: Students will make mistakes differentiating was and were. This is a good opportunity to guide them towards self-correction.
MEANING AND USE:
Past simple describes actions that both started and finished in the past.
I started reading the book last week. I finished it yesterday.
Last year I did not go on vacation
Did he go to the game?
What did she cook for dinner?
Past simple describes states that both started and finished in the past.
I lived on Grape Street.
He was not tall.
Did she have green eyes?
What was your first email address?
Time markers that students should know:
Ago
Last
Yesterday
Tip: Make sure students understand that we say ‘last night’, not ‘yesterday night.’
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